JP2022552469A - Consumables for aerosol generating devices, systems and methods for manufacturing consumables - Google Patents

Abstract

A consumable for an aerosol generating device, a method and system for manufacturing the consumable, and a method for using the consumable. The consumable includes an aerosol-generating substrate column and a heating element embedded in the column. The heating element includes a base portion and a plurality of elongated portions extending from the base portion along the columnar portion. The heating element is adapted to be driven toward the columnar portion by a force applied to the base portion.

Description

The present disclosure relates to consumables for aerosol generating devices. Consumables may include tobacco or other suitable aerosol-based material that should be heated rather than burned to produce an aerosol for inhalation.

The popularity and use of risk-reducing or risk-modifying devices (also known as vaporizers) assist habitual smokers who wish to quit smoking traditional tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, and cigarettes. It has grown rapidly in the last few years as a way to help Various devices and systems are available for heating or warming an aerosolizable substance, as opposed to burning tobacco in conventional tobacco products.

Commonly available risk reduction or risk modification devices are substrate-heated aerosol generators or heated non-combustion devices. Devices of this type produce an aerosol or vapor by heating an aerosol substrate, typically comprising moist tobacco or other suitable aerosolizable material, to a temperature typically in the range of 150°C to 300°C. to generate By heating the aerosol substrate rather than combusting or burning it, an aerosol is released that contains the components desired by the user but is free of the toxic and carcinogenic by-products of combustion and burning. Furthermore, aerosols produced by heating tobacco or other aerosolizable materials typically do not contain a burnt or bitter taste resulting from combustion and burning, which can be unpleasant to the user. Thus, the substrate does not require sugars and other additives typically added to such materials to make the smoke and/or vapors more palatable to the user.

It would be desirable to provide consumables that can generate aerosols with improved energy efficiency and that are easy to manufacture.

According to a first aspect, the present disclosure is a consumable for an aerosol-generating device, comprising a columnar portion of an aerosol-generating substrate and a heating element embedded in the columnar portion, the heating element comprising a base portion and a plurality of elongated portions extending from the base portion along the columnar portion, wherein the heating element is adapted to be driven toward the columnar portion by a force applied to the base portion. .

Optionally, the heating element is an induction heating element.

Optionally, the heating element includes two elongated portions arranged at respective ends of the base portion to form a U-shape.

Optionally, the heating element has substantially similar cross-sections throughout the base portion and the plurality of elongated portions.

Optionally, the heating element is a wire bent to form a base portion and a plurality of elongated portions.

Optionally, the aerosol-generating substrate is a solid material or a bulk material held by a wrapper around the post, and the heating element is embedded in the aerosol-generating substrate.

Optionally, the base portion is arranged at the open end of the columnar portion.

According to a second aspect, the present disclosure is a system for manufacturing a consumable as described above, comprising holding means adapted to receive a consumable comprising a columnar portion; heating element drivers arranged to face each other, the heating element drivers configured to drive the heating element toward the end of the columnar portion; offer.

Optionally, the system is a drum comprising a plurality of retaining means arranged at respective indexed positions around the drum, each retaining means adapted to receive a respective consumable and the drum being indexed A drum configured to rotate and a heating element drive arranged around the circumference of the drum facing a first indexed position, the heating element drive being in the first indexed position a heating element driver configured to drive the heating element toward the end of the consumable column in the holding means at.

Optionally, the system further includes a hopper positioned to receive the plurality of columns of aerosol-generating substrate and feed the plurality of columns toward the second indexed position around the drum. .

Optionally, the first indexed position and the second indexed position are different positions.

Optionally, the drum is arranged to rotate about a substantially horizontal axis and the second indexed position is the uppermost position.

Optionally, the retaining means drops each column after the drum has rotated a predetermined number of index positions from when the respective column was placed in the retaining means at the second index position. adapted to allow

Optionally, the heating element drive is a stapler.

According to a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for manufacturing a consumable as described above, wherein the end of a columnar portion of an aerosol-generating substrate faces a heating element drive. and driving the heating element toward the end of the column using the heating element driver.

According to a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of producing an inhalable aerosol, wherein a heating chamber comprising a drive element configured to drive the heating element is provided with a consumable as described above. and heating a columnar portion of an aerosol-generating substrate using a heating element to generate an inhalable aerosol.

1 is a schematic diagram of a consumable according to the invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example heating element; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example heating element; FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the end of the consumable in different examples of heating elements; FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the end of the consumable in different examples of heating elements; 1 is a schematic diagram of a method of manufacturing a consumable; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for manufacturing consumables; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of consumables in use in an example aerosol generating device; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of consumables in use in an example aerosol generating device; FIG.

FIG. 1A schematically illustrates a consumable according to an embodiment of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1A, consumable 100 includes columnar portion 110 of an aerosol-generating substrate. Generally, the aerosol-generating device consumable is relatively long in one direction (labeled z-direction in FIG. 1A) and has a relatively small cross-section perpendicular to the "longitudinal" direction. In such consumables, a "columnar" portion refers to a portion that extends along the "longitudinal" direction. Reference to such consumables is convenient in describing the invention, but the invention is equally applicable to such consumables of unknown "longitudinal" orientation, in which case "columnar The '' portion can be any portion of the aerosol-generating substrate.

A post may comprise, for example, a solid aerosol-based material or a loose aerosol-based material held by a wrapper around the post. The aerosol substrate may comprise various forms of tobacco material such as, for example, cut tobacco and granulated tobacco, and/or the tobacco material may comprise tobacco leaf and/or reconstituted tobacco. Wrappers may include, for example, paper and/or other textile materials. The wrapper can also include various organic and/or inorganic materials.

A heating element 120 is embedded in the columnar portion 110 . The heating element 120 is preferably embedded within the aerosol-generating substrate itself, but may alternatively be adjacent to the aerosol-generating substrate. For example, heating element 120 may be located between the aerosol-generating substrate and the wrapper. Heating element 120 can be, for example, an induction heating element (also called a susceptor) configured to receive energy by electromagnetic induction and dissipate the received energy to provide heating. Alternatively, heating element 120 can be an electrically conductive heating element configured to receive energy via electrical current. The heating element may typically comprise electrically conductive materials including metallic materials such as aluminum, iron, steel alloys, copper, etc., and/or non-metallic materials such as graphite, silicon carbide.

As shown in FIG. 1A, consumable 100 may further include tube section 140 between filter 130 and columnar portion 110 . A tube section can be used to allow the generated aerosol to cool before reaching the mouth end of the consumable.

Details of a first example of heating element 120 are shown in FIG. 1B.

Referring to FIG. 1B, heating element 120 includes a base portion 121 and a plurality of elongated portions 122a, 122b extending from base portion 120. As shown in FIG. When embedded in the columnar portion 110, the elongated portion is arranged to extend along the columnar portion. That is, the elongated portion is arranged to extend along the "longitudinal" direction of the columnar portion.

With such an elongated portion arrangement, the induction heating element can be conveniently powered by surrounding the column with a solenoid. In such an arrangement, the magnetic field of the solenoid can be parallel to the elongated portion, inducing a current around the surface area of the elongated portion. Further, even if the heating element is not an inductive heating element, the placement of the elongated portion along the column improves the uniformity of heating of the aerosol substrate.

This arrangement of the base portion and the plurality of elongated portions also allows the heating element to be driven toward the columnar portion 110 by a force applied to the base portion 121 (as shown in FIG. 2, discussed below). means that it is adapted to In particular, base portion 121 provides a surface for actuation, while elongated portions 122a, 122b are arranged to penetrate columnar portion 110 with a lower resistance than base portion 121. FIG.

In the example of FIG. 1B, heating element 120 has two elongated portions 122a, 122b, which are arranged at respective ends of base portion 121 to form a U-shape. Using at least two elongated portions that are spread as far apart as possible along the base portion has the effect of stabilizing the heating element 120 as it is hammered into the columnar portion 110 and the elongated portions 122 By increasing the number of , the amount of material required for the heating element 120 increases. The U-shape therefore balances the requirement of stability when driving the heating element with the requirement of reducing the amount of material required for the heating element.

The heating element 120 may advantageously have substantially similar cross-sections throughout the base portion and the plurality of elongated portions. This simplifies the manufacture of heating element 120 by allowing the use of lengths of material having substantially uniform cross-sections to form the heating element. Additionally, substantially similar cross-sections of the base portion and the elongated portion means that the current is substantially uniform over the surface of the elongated portion, increasing the uniformity of heat distribution by the heating element.

More preferably, heating element 120 may be formed from a wire bent to form a base portion and a plurality of elongated portions. For example, FIG. 1C shows a second example heating element 120 having three elongated sections formed from wire. The ends of the wire form a central elongated portion 122b and the central portion of the wire is bent to form outer elongated portions 122a, 122c and base portion 121. FIG. Bending the wire eliminates the need to attach either the base portion and the elongated portion to each other, thus further simplifying the manufacturing of the heating element 120 .

FIG. 1D is a rotated view of the consumable of FIG. 1A as viewed from the end where the z-direction of FIG. 1A extends into the page. FIG. 1D illustrates the base portion 121 of the heating element extending across the end of the columnar portion 110 while the elongated portion (not shown) extends from the base portion into the columnar portion 110 .

FIG. 1E is a view of a further example heating element 120 from the same perspective as FIG. 1D. In this example, the base portion 121 has a cross shape and an elongated portion (not shown) extends from each of the four ends of the cross shape. In this example, the cruciform is slightly distorted as it represents a cruciform formed by bending a length of material having a substantially uniform cross-section multiple times to form the elongated portion and the base portion. . By providing a base portion capable of supporting elongated portions in a two-dimensional arrangement, the stability of the heating element is improved as the heating element is driven into the column and the uniformity of heat delivery to the column is improved.

Returning to FIG. 1A, base portion 121 is preferably positioned at the open end of columnar portion 110 . In a typical consumable design, the consumable includes a filter 130 at the mouth end of the consumable. In such designs, the open end is opposite the mouth end. This placement of the heating element 120 means that the heating element 120 can be added last to an almost complete consumable.

More specifically, in FIG. 1A, the base portion 121 is proximate to the open end of the columnar portion 110, but is not actually embedded, while the elongated portion is almost completely embedded. ing. Alternatively, heating element 120 may be fully embedded in columnar portion 110 to improve the efficiency of heat supply to the aerosol-generating substrate.

Also, if the heating element 120 is added to the columnar portion 110 prior to assembly of any other consumable elements such as the filter 130, the base portion 121 will eventually become the consumable when fully manufactured. can be driven into and placed at the end of the post 110 closer to the mouth end of the post.

In other consumables, the consumable does not include a filter, and the "open end" can be either end of the column.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method for manufacturing consumables as described above.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the columnar portion 110 (which may already be part of the consumable including the filter 130 ) is placed with its end facing the heating element drive 200 . Heating element driver 200 is then used to drive heating element 120 towards the end of column 110 .

Heating element driver 200 can be similar to a conventional stapler or nail gun adapted to hold and drive heating element 120 as described above.

Column 110 may be positioned directly adjacent to heating element drive 200 such that heating element 120 may be held by heating element drive 200 while heating element 120 is driven into the column. Alternatively, the columnar portion 110 can cause the heating element driver 200 to fire the heating element 120 with sufficient force applied to the base portion 121 such that the heating element is driven into the columnar portion upon impact. may be positioned at a distance from the heating element drive 200 to drive the .

In a simple embodiment, this method can be performed manually by using a handheld heating element drive 200 and/or by holding the post 110 facing the heating element drive 200. .

Alternatively, the method includes a system comprising a heating element drive 200 in addition to a holding means arranged to face the holding means and adapted to receive a consumable 100 comprising a columnar portion 110 or a columnar portion 110. can be done by An example of such a system is shown schematically in FIG.

In the example of FIG. 3, the system includes drum 300 . The drum has a plurality of retaining means 310a, 310b, 310c arranged at respective indexed positions around the circumference of the drum, each retaining means having a respective columnar portion 110 (which may already be part of the consumable). is adapted to hold The retaining means can be, for example, depressions or grooves in the outer surface of the drum. In this example, a groove is provided that is at least as long as the length of the columnar portion 110 in the "longitudinal" direction (the z-direction in FIG. 1), and the columnar portion 110 is held along the groove. Each retaining means may optionally have an actuator for actively retaining and releasing the columnar portion 110 .

The heating element drive 200 is statically positioned to face the first index position of the drum 300 . The drum 300 is indexed so that on each rotation of the drum 300 a new retaining means (and thus a new columnar portion) is positioned in the first position facing the heating element drive 200. Configured.

For example, the drum 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 has twelve equally spaced retaining means 310a, 310b, 310c. In this example, each index rotation of the drum is one-twelfth of a full rotation. More generally, the drum may have any number of retaining means and the retaining means need not be evenly spaced around the drum as long as the rotation of the drum is controlled according to the position of the retaining means. do not have.

In this system, the consumables according to the present invention are that the drum 300 rotates by one position and the heating element drive 200 rotates the heating element toward the column 110, which is now in the first position. 120 and repeatedly.

The missing columnar portion 110 of the heating element 120 can be added to the drum 300 using the hopper 400 . More specifically, the hopper 400 may be arranged to receive the plurality of columns 110 and feed the plurality of columns 110 around the drum 300 toward the second indexed position. In this embodiment, the columnar portions 110 are fed one by one into the respective holding means 310a, 310b, 310c when each respective holding means is in the second position adjacent the hopper 400. As shown in FIG.

The second position can be the same as the first position associated with the heating element driver 200 . However, the second position preferably differs from the first position. By placing the heating element drive 200 and the hopper 400 adjacent to different indexed positions, the post 110 will remain in the respective holding means 310a, 310b, 310c for a longer period of time before the heating element 120 is applied. This reduces the precision required to control the timing of the operation of the hopper 400 and the operation of the heating element drive 200 .

Each column 110 can be added to the drum using gravity. This is done by arranging the drum 300 to rotate about a generally horizontal axis and to feed the posts 110 toward a second position at or near the topmost position around the drum 300 . This can be accomplished by positioning hopper 400 . Each post 110 enters into a respective retaining means 310 through a retaining means opening in the second indexed position. In this example, the hopper 400 feeds each column 110 such that the column 110 enters its respective retaining means 310 perpendicular to the "longitudinal" direction (the z-direction in FIG. 1) of the column 110 . are arranged as follows.

Each post 110 (or complete consumable) can be similarly removed from the drum 300 using gravity after the heating element 120 is added. This is because the drum 300 has moved a predetermined number of indexed positions (i.e. a predetermined number of positions from the vertical direction in FIG. 3) from the time the respective column 110 was placed in the retaining means 310 in the second indexed position. The opening of each retaining means 310 so that the retaining means 310 supports the column portion 110 during one rotation and then allows the column portion to fall again from the retaining means 310 through the opening. can be achieved by adapting For example, the retaining means may be configured such that the column is stably retained within the retaining means until the column is rotated 120° from the vertical position, and the column is retained once the retaining means exceeds 120° from the vertical around the drum. It can be passively formed or actively controlled to fall from the means.

In another example, improved drum 300' may be arranged to rotate about a substantially vertical axis and be fed and/or emptied under gravity. In this example, the column 110 (or complete consumable) can enter and/or exit the drum 300' parallel to the "longitudinal" direction (the z-direction in FIG. 1) of the column 110. can. For example, the improved feeder 400' is positioned above the second index position and vertically feeds the columns 110 such that each column 110 enters the drum 300 parallel to the "longitudinal" direction. can be configured to Similarly, the drum 300' may be adapted to release the posts 110 from their respective retaining means 310 in the third indexed position. This is done by providing a solid plate under the drum 300' that does not rotate and has holes in the third index position to allow the post 110 to fall from the retaining means 310 under gravity. can be achieved by

The system may further include an electronic controller configured to automatically control one or more of the heating element drive 200 , drum 300 and hopper 400 . The system may, for example, detect whether the columnar portion 110 is in the holding means currently located in the first position and/or if the columnar portion 110 is in the holding means and the columnar portion 110 It may further include one or more sensors configured to detect whether it already has an embedded heating element 120 . The system can alternatively be operated by a human operator.

In other embodiments of the system, the drum 300 can be replaced by a conveyor belt containing multiple retaining means. The system otherwise feeds the heating element drive 200 facing the first position along the conveyor belt and the post 110 towards the second position along the conveyor belt. The same can be made with a hopper 400 arranged to do so.

Furthermore, in other embodiments, the system is adapted to operate continuously without stepping by attaching one or more heating element drives 200 to the drum 300 (or conveyor belt). be able to.

Figures 4A and 4B illustrate the use of consumables as described above to generate an aerosol.

FIG. 4A schematically illustrates consumable 100 within aerosol generating device 500 .

Aerosol generating device 500 includes heating chamber 510 that includes drive element 520 configured to drive heating element 120 of consumable 100 . In this example, drive element 520 is a solenoid coil arranged to generate a magnetic field within heating chamber 510 . The magnetic field induces current in the heating element 120 resulting in heating of the columnar portion of the aerosol substrate 110 .

To generate an inhalable aerosol, a user may insert consumable 100 into heating chamber 510 and heat column 110 using heating element 120 to generate an inhalable aerosol.

In this example, consumable 100 does not have filter 130 or tube section 140 . Such simple consumables are, for example, the aerosol generator itself, a mouthpiece and filter (not shown), from which the user can obtain the generated aerosol. can be used when having

FIG. 4B schematically illustrates consumable 100 within second aerosol generating device 600 .

Aerosol-generating device 600 also includes a heating chamber 610 and a drive element 620 . However, in this example, drive element 620 includes a piercing element positioned to pass through column 110 and make electrical contact with heating element 120 to energize the heating element. Drive element 620 may be retractable to allow consumables to be added to and removed from heating chamber 610 .

To generate an inhalable aerosol, a user may insert consumable 100 into heating chamber 610 and heat column 110 using heating element 120 to generate an inhalable aerosol.

Claims (16)

A consumable for an aerosol generator, comprising:
a columnar portion of an aerosol-generating substrate;
a heating element embedded in the columnar portion;
the heating element includes a base portion and a plurality of elongated portions extending from the base portion along the column;
the heating element is adapted to be driven toward the columnar portion by a force applied to the base portion;
the expendables. The consumable according to claim 1, wherein said heating element is an induction heating element. 3. The consumable of claim 1 or 2, wherein the heating element includes two elongated portions arranged at respective ends of the base portion to form a U-shape. The consumable according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said heating element has substantially similar cross-sections throughout said base portion and said plurality of elongated portions. A consumable according to any preceding claim, wherein the heating element is a wire bent to form the base portion and the plurality of elongated portions. Claims 1-5, wherein the aerosol-generating substrate is a solid material or a bulk material held by a wrapper around the columnar portion, and the heating element is embedded in the aerosol-generating substrate. Consumables according to any one of A consumable according to any preceding claim, wherein the base portion is located at the open end of the columnar portion. A system for manufacturing consumables according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
a holding means adapted to receive a consumable comprising a column;
a heating element drive arranged to face said holding means, said heating element drive being arranged to drive a heating element towards an end of said columnar portion; A system, including a part. said drum comprising a plurality of said retaining means arranged at respective indexed positions around the circumference of the drum, each retaining means being adapted to receive a respective consumable, said drum being adapted for indexed rotation; the drum, configured to:
a heating element drive positioned facing a first indexed position about the circumference of said drum, said heating element drive comprising a consumable within said holding means at said first indexed position; 9. The system of claim 8, comprising the heating element driver configured to drive a heating element towards the end of the columnar portion of the column. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising a hopper positioned to receive a plurality of columns of aerosol-generating substrate and feed said plurality of columns around said drum toward a second indexed position. System as described. 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first indexed position and the second indexed position are different positions. A system according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the drum is arranged to rotate about a substantially horizontal axis and the second indexed position is the uppermost position. The retaining means is configured to rotate each column after the drum has rotated a predetermined number of index positions from when the respective column is disposed in the retaining means at the second index position. The system according to any one of claims 9 to 12, adapted to drop a The system of any one of claims 8-13, wherein the heating element drive is a stapler. A method for manufacturing a consumable according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
locating the end of the columnar portion of the aerosol-generating substrate so as to face the heating element drive;
and driving a heating element toward the end of the column using the heating element driver. A method of producing an inhalable aerosol comprising:
inserting a consumable according to any one of claims 1 to 7 into a heating chamber comprising a drive element arranged to drive said heating element;
and heating the columnar portion of the aerosol-generating substrate using the heating element to generate the inhalable aerosol.

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